The monastery “St George The Victorious” is situated just outside the village of Belashtitza, which in turn lies 12km to the south of the city of Plovdiv – there where the Rhodopi mountains start to rise from the ends of the Thracian valley. The monastery is not big but is very cozy, nesting within the marvelous forest above the village.
The monastery was built by a Byzantine military commander, Nikifor Skifi, who in 1014 during a battle at the Belasitsa mountain (in present-day Macedonia) appeared with his men in the rear of the courageous Bulgarian Tsar Samuil and this way contributed to the victory of the Byzantine ruler Basilius II who left the field with plenty of spoils and prisoners of war.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, religious Bulgarians donated funds for further construction and improvement of the buildings, the yard and the church of the monastery. The monastery is declared a monument of culture and represents a complex consisting of a church, a chapel, residential and farm buildings. At present three nuns and 2 novices live permanently in it.
Each year on the 6th of May, on the day of the patron of the monastery, plenty of temporary stalls emerge in front of the monastery and many pilgrims gather there, but it is peaceful and quiet during the rest of the year. A visit to the monastery can be combined with a picnic or a tourist hike in the mountain, as the cloister is surrounded by broad-lived forests with plenty of springs and meadows.
